History Of Cleveland

Cleveland, Ohio has been in existence for 203 years. There are more than 500,000 people living in Cleveland, yet few know about its past. In this paper, I am going to take you along as I tell you the history of Cleveland.

On July 4th 1796 the Connecticut Land Company sent out a search party to find new land. General Moses Cleaveland headed this search party, and on July 22nd of 1796 they found their new land, naming it Cleaveland after the leader of the search party.

The beginning of the population was predominately white. In 1800 the population of Cleaveland was what now would be an unheard of 7. In 10 years however the population grew to 57, 10 years following that increasing by almost %1100! What did 1840 now spell, as “Cleveland” was the 45th largest city in the nation at 6,071 people. Decade by decade Cleveland grew, becoming more of a populated city then others. Just 40 years after being the 45th largest city in the nation it was the 12th. When the 20th century came around Cleveland was proud to be the 7th largest city in the nation with 381,768 people. Although Cleveland never became the largest city in the nation, the closest they got was 5th with 900,429 people. Interesting enough, even though that was the highest position Cleveland ever got, that wasn’t the highest the population ever was. In 1950 the population was 914,808 which put them in 7th place.

With large populations came major events. The first major event for Cleveland is one that now is a regular occurrence. A year after it was founded, the first wedding was held in the settlement of Cleaveland. In 1803 mail service was extended to Cleveland making the town able to communicate with the rest of the nation. In 1810 the first doctor arrived, followed 3 years later by the first courthouse being built. Some things even happened that are still around today, such as the bridge across the Cuyahoga River and Ohio and Erie Canal. Newspapers were established and the Old Stone Church that is still standing was built in 1820. The first street light, which is now seen everywhere, was placed in 1849. In 1866 the Cleveland Police Department was established, which like the street light is still seen today. The first phone company began service in 1880, giving people another way to communicate.